October 13, 2015 Louisville, KY. –The Kentucky Derby Festival has some music for your ears. They announced this morning that the Louisville Orchestra is recording the soundtrack for the 2016 Thunder Over Louisville fireworks show. The announcement was made at the Brown Theatre, just before the Orchestra began their recording session.
“Having a Thunder soundtrack from the Louisville Orchestra has been on the Festival’s bucket list for a while,” said Mike Berry, KDF President & CEO. “It’s really going to be something special we think the whole community will enjoy.”
Said Teddy Abrams, Louisville Orchestra Music Director, “One of my first introductions to Louisville right as I started as Music Director was Thunder Over Louisville. It was very exciting to see this community rally around an event with such enthusiasm that I instantly had the goal to get the orchestra to be a part of it somehow. This collaboration is that dream come true!
The Louisville Orchestra is recording pieces from over 40 well-known works by composers like Holst, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Mozart. In addition, you’ll hear the traditional favorites such as “Colonel Bogey’s March,” “When You Wish Upon a Star,” and, of course, “My Old Kentucky Home.” The Collegiate Chorale – the premiere choral ensemble in the University of Louisville School of Music – is performing with the Orchestra in the soundtrack. After a two-day recording session this week, the music will be edited for the fireworks show.
“There’s a natural fit between spectacular orchestra music and fireworks so this connection is long overdue,” said Andrew Kipe, Executive Director, Louisville Orchestra. “We are grateful for the visionary partnership of the Kentucky Derby Festival and their sponsors.”
Thunder’s fireworks show is choreographed to an original soundtrack each year. Over the years, those soundtracks have included a broad range of music from Top Ten and urban contemporary to pop and country, as well as rock’n’roll, Broadway show tunes and much more. Anywhere from 25 to up to 60 different tracks or sound effects are used to build the musical score for each soundtrack.
The event will again be broadcast live on television, thanks to a continued partnership between the four local network affiliates – WAVE, WDRB, WHAS and WLKY. The Thunder broadcast rotation is similar to the one used by the major TV networks for airing of the Super Bowl. The 2016 show will be broadcast by WDRB-TV. WHAS will broadcast the event in 2017. WLKY will show Thunder in 2018. WAVE will do the 2019 Thunder broadcast. The local stations have participated in a broadcast rights rotation since 2005. The Official Radio Broadcast Partner in 2016 is SummitMedia’s Lite 106.9.
Thunder Over Louisville – the Derby Festival’s Opening Ceremonies – is one of nearly 70 events produced by the Derby Festival in the spring. The 2016 Thunder Over Louisville is set for Saturday, April 23, along the banks of the Ohio River in downtown. It will be the 27th annual production. More details regarding the theme, air show and sponsors will be released in the coming months.
